


I'm Broken and Fine, Thank You

by ishime



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-11
Updated: 2012-11-11
Packaged: 2017-11-18 10:36:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/560089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishime/pseuds/ishime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day Edward gets out of jail, Ivan won't let his job prevent him to be there to welcome his friend back in his life.</p>
<p>(Can be read as yaoi or gen.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm Broken and Fine, Thank You

**Disclaimer:**  
Tiger&Bunny and its characters belong to the Sunrise studio, not to me.  
 **Notes:**  
Written for my [one-fic-a-day meme](http://ishime.livejournal.com/81541.html). The prompt was given by [](http://drakys.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://drakys.livejournal.com/)**drakys** : "he will always be a broken boy". Post-series. Can be read as shounen-ai or just as friendship.  
  
  
The day Edward gets out of jail, Ivan can't be there to welcome him. Someone is trying to rob a bank down town (honestly, you'd think the small fry would learn and stop trying after so many years) and all heroes were called out, just in case. And, well. Ivan is one of the senior members, now, and pretty much all he can do is set an example - so setting an example he does.  
He goes to the bank, rescues the people locked away on the last floor so his younger, stronger teammates can concentrate on fighting the bad guys. He waits with the civilians and comfort them until he Agnes' assures him that all the robbers are incapacitated; then he goes out to congratulate his teammates on their parts of the job.  
At this point going to the prison should be useless, but Ivan goes there anyway. He's a hero, and heroes are people who keep trying, no matter how hopeless things seem to be.  
  
They tell him Edward took a bus to the city. They prepared a room for him in a rehabilitation center, he should be headed there.  
Ivan visited a reinsertion center, once. He remembers finding the place sad and lifeless, with its white walls and white tiled floors and its cold rooms, empty except for the barest necessities. He tries to imagine Edward in one of these rooms, sitting on the narrow bed and staring at the plastic desk on the opposite side. The Edward Ivan visited in prison would fit in perfectly, with his dull eyes and his furious rejections of everything that attempts to make him happy again.  
Ivan frowns, waves at the guards and runs back to his car.  
  
He barely remembers to observe speed-limits and almost runs a red light, and he doesn't give a damn.  
The rehabilitation center is at the other side of the city, near the industrial park. At night, the office blocks, warehouses and empty parking lots alongside the road look like a sinister sci-fi wasteland. Really, Ivan thinks, such a charming area to live in for people who haven't enjoyed human company for years. It may be better than jail, but not by far. His car stops spanning three parking places, and Ivan jumps out without bothering to switch off the headlights.  
Edward is waiting by the entrance, sitting on his duffel bag.  
  
Ivan comes to a halt in front of him, unsure of what to do. Edward stretches up and stands slowly. Then he sends a look at Ivan's car and raises a brow.  
"I wasn't about to run away, you know."  
Ivan nods, embarrassed by his own panic. He waits for Edward to say more, but Edward stays silent and keeps looking away.  
Ivan fights back the urge to whine for Edward to look him in the eye, and grabs his sleeve instead.  
"Sorry for the wait," he whispers. "Come on, let's go home."  
  
Edward turns back to him and stares.  
His eyes are still tired and bitter and nothing like what he used to be, but there's a tiny light in his pupils now and it changes _everything_. He bows down to pick his bag and follows Ivan to the car without a word. He watches Ivan fumble with the light controls, he pointedly refuses to laugh (Ivan recognizes the curve of his mouth anyway) and rolls his eyes instead.  
"Still can't get anything done by yourself, can you?"  
And he swats Ivan's hands away to switch from the parking lights to the headlights.  
  
Ivan laughs a little as he grabs the wheel.  
He hasn't felt so fulfilled in years.


End file.
